FAQs

Services

An appointment is not needed, but it is best to call ahead of time, especially if you are coming from out-of-town. If you are wanting your denture back the same day, you will need to drop your it off in the morning, the earlier the better.

Payment & Insurance

We will gladly file your primary dental insurance at no extra charge. We are currently contracted with Delta Dental (PPO), Essex, Connection Dental, Guardian Dental Guard Preferred, MetLife and United Concordia. If you have insurance other than these, it does not mean we do not take your insurance. We will still file your primary insurance as long as it is not a discount plan, Medicare or Medicaid. Please remember your estimated co-pay and deductible are the due the day of service. We apologize for any inconvenience, but we do not file secondary insurance.

We can only estimate what your insurance company will pay and cannot guarantee they will pay all we have estimated. We will do our best to estimate your out-of-pocket cost on the day of your visit but many times insurance companies do not pay all we estimate of their share. If your dental insurance denies or only pays a portion of your claim, you will receive a statement for the balance on your account.

There are several common reasons for an insurance company not to pay all of what we estimated:

Many insurance companies will only pay for silver (amalgam) fillings, so if you receive any white or tooth colored (composite) fillings on your teeth, they will make you pay the difference in cost.

“Missing Tooth” clause: This means your insurance will not pay to replace teeth that were missing before you had dental insurance. Dentures, partials and bridges are denied many times because of this. However, if you have had the previous denture, partial or bridge for more than five years, they will often pay to replace those. Sometimes we will need to resubmit the claim and explain that your previous appliance is more than five years old.

Your deductible: Sometimes insurance companies apply your deductible to services it usually does not apply to, such as x-rays.

Your yearly maximum: Most insurance plans have a yearly maximum (typically around $1,000) they will pay. This usually runs on a calendar year and will renew on January 1. Patients are responsible for any amount over their annual maximum.

Our Account Manager, Sheri, will be happy to answer any questions you have about your statement. She can print out a copy of your account and give you a breakdown of all charges and payments. This does take a few minutes to prepare. We ask you please leave a message, so she can call you back with the information.

Although we do not take in-house payments, we do have financing (with approved credit) from Care Credit. If you qualify, you can make payments to Care Credit directly, often interest-free. But, we do not offer in-house financing. We do accept all major credit/debit cards or personal check (no starter or comp checks please).

Dentures & Partials

Sometimes, if just the teeth or acrylic (pink part) of the partial is broken, we can repair it as we would a denture. If the metal framework is broken you will most likely need to see a doctor, and we will need to it to an outside lab for repair. The best thing to do is bring your broken partial into us in the morning, and let us see what can be done. If impressions are needed to repair a partial additional fees may apply.

Yes! We do same-day denture repairs if you bring them to us in the morning. It is $65 for denture repairs, including cracks or if they are completely broken in two. If your denture tooth came out and that same tooth can be used, it’s $55. If you need several teeth replaced in your denture, it is $65 for the first tooth and $55 for each additional tooth. If you have any questions about our repair services, please call.

For Immediate Dentures, we usually begin by extracting the back teeth and allowing a few weeks for you to heal. Then we take impressions for your new denture(s). Our lab will set the new denture teeth in wax before the actual denture is made. Then we do what is called a wax try-in. You will try in the wax denture(s), and the doctor will check your bite with the new back teeth. If you and the doctor are pleased with the wax model, we will process your new denture(s) and schedule you to have the remaining teeth extracted. At the next appointment, we will extract all of the remaining teeth and immediately place the denture in your mouth. The pressure from your new denture will act as a bandage for your extractions.

You will be asked to follow some very important post-operative instructions and return to the office in a few days. By this time, you may have some sore areas from your new denture. This is perfectly normal. Either the doctor or one of our expanded functions dental assistants will adjust your denture(s) for better comfort.

You will need to have a reline after you have healed. If you have your teeth extracted in our office the price of the Immediate Dentures includes a free reline.

Dr. Ker researched the process of making same-day dentures and feels it is an inferior product for our patients. Here’s why:

Dentures made in one day, most likely, will not include a wax try-in. Our dentures do include a try-in to insure you are happy with the look, fit and function before we go to the next step.

Dentures made in one day are usually made with a self-curing acrylic verus the heat-cured acrylic we use. Self-cured acrylic is not as strong as heat-cured acrylic (see bar graph below). Weaker acrylic typically means more breakage and causes dentures to wear out sooner.

Self-cured acrylic tends to be less color-stable than our heat-cured acrylic. Our dentures will be less likely to discolor from food, drinks, smoking etc.

Dr. Ker’s in-house lab has been using the same heat-curing method since 1978. When we explain the difference to our patients, they usually agree they prefer our process.